It was a far cry from “last call” at the corner bar, but there was definitely a get-it-while-you-can air at El Bulli, the renowned restaurant in Spain that is set to close in just three months, at a goodbye party of sorts on Friday. So glasses did not remain empty for more than a millisecond at the party, hosted by the Champagne house Dom Pérignon for just 50 guests, who sat down for a 50-course meal prepared by 50 cooks.

El Bulli is the global temple of creative gastronomy, and Ferran Adrià, the chef, is its high priest, renowned and adored for gastronomic wizardry that includes a breadless baguette, a mojito sandwich, Parmesan air and spherical olives made from, well, olives. Set in a remote cove on the Costa Brava about two hours north of Barcelona, the restaurant, which opens only for dinner and only for six months of the year, was for more than a decade considered the world’s best restaurant.

“I was so sad when I heard that it was closing,” the actress Heather Graham said as she lingered at the threshold of the restaurant’s whitewashed terrace overlooking the Mediterranean. “I figured I’d never be able to experience El Bulli, so I’m thrilled they could organize something like this.” The actress was among a handful of boldface names — like the designers Marc Newson and Ozwald Boateng and the English actress Rosamund Pike — many of whom had come in by helicopter, presumably to avoid an hour of twists and turns on narrow roads that is a rite of passage for the Bulli experience.

The tag line of the event, “An offertory from two creators,” didn’t exactly roll off the tongue, but Adrià’s cuisine and Dom Pérignon’s select vintages, from 1969 to 2002, all went down far too easily. Joining the chef was Richard Geoffroy, Dom Pérignon’s bubbly chef de cave, who goes by the more Dionysian-sounding title creator of vintages. Among his creations are the black-label Oenotheque wines, made from small reserves of Dom Pérignon that were not bottled for general release but left to age in barrels for decades longer, which give them a depth and richness that is rare in sparkling wine. Geoffroy alone is responsible for deciding when the moment is right to disgorge, bottle and release these Oenotheque vintages. At El Bulli, they popped the corks of bottles from 1969, 1973, 1976, 1990 and 1996.

“Champagne is the only wine that could accompany all the dishes in our 50-course dinner,” Adrià noted just as the guests were starting to arrive. They were greeted with tomato cookies, beet root meringues and tiny, hollow baguettes as crisp as eggshells wrapped in jamón, all of it accompanied by magnums of Oenotheque ’73. Adrià explained that rather than try to harmoniously pair wines with food in the traditional manner, he and Geoffroy went for more unexpected combinations and “mouth sensations” to enhance the often surprising flavors, textures and temperatures of his cuisine.

By midnight, or around Course No. 42 (hare ravioli with Bolognese served with a shot of hare “blood” made of beet juice), Geoffroy was floating among the tables, chatting up the guests with a glass in hand, but Adrià chose to stay in the kitchen for most of the evening. So once dinner was finally over, all the guests went to him, and gave a standing ovation to the whole crew.

Though this corporate event was billed as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, Adrià recognized that such private dinners will probably be on the menu when El Bulli reopens in 2014 as a foundation. He said the move to a nonprofit center for culinary creation was a natural evolution for both him and the restaurant. “When we started we were all in our 20s. But now, the members of my El Bulli family have their own families,” he said. “It was just time. You can’t win an Oscar 13 or 14 years in a row.”